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7 Things to Do in Wine Country Once the Fires Are Out - Marin Magazine
7 Things to Do in Wine Country Once
the Fires Are Out
Ways to show up and support Napa and Sonoma's workers and
businesses.
December 20, 2019 by Daniel Mangin
https://www.marinmagazine.com/7-things-to-do-in-wine-country-once-the-fires-are-out/[1/6/2020 1:21:07 PM]
7 Things to Do in Wine Country Once the Fires Are Out - Marin Magazine
Photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash
“We don’t like to post much about the fires, because we watched what it did to our little town
and our small businesses,” read a message on the Facebook page of Geyserville’s Locals
Tasting Room a few days after the Kincade Fire broke out northeast of town. The author added
that following the 2017 wildfires “people stopped coming out of fear.” As occurred two years
ago, the social media pages of wineries, restaurants, and other businesses overflowed last
month with expressions of concern and inquiries about what commenters could do to help.
Once the fire has been contained and evacuees return home the answer, as the Locals post
suggests, is simple: show up.
Below are seven ways to support Wine Country workers and businesses, many of the latter
family-owned, and have a great time doing so. As of early November, some were still closed,
so make sure the coast (and the air) is clear before venturing forth. Tastings at some wineries
are by appointment only; book ahead if necessary.
https://www.marinmagazine.com/7-things-to-do-in-wine-country-once-the-fires-are-out/[1/6/2020 1:21:07 PM]7 Things to Do in Wine Country Once the Fires Are Out - Marin Magazine
1. Show Geyserville Some Love
Show Geyserville’s residents some love: start with a tasting—always free—at Locals, which
represents nine well-selected small wineries, or visit one of downtown’s other wine spaces.
Have lunch at Diavola Pizzeria or Catelli’s before heading into the Alexander Valley
countryside to Robert Young, Zialena, or (when it reopens) Garden Creek. Stay overnight at
the Geyserville Inn, whose 41 stylish rooms were fully renovated earlier this year.
2. Stroll a Garden or Two
Tap into nature’s quiet beauty strolling the perfectly coiffed gardens at Ferrari-Carano
(Healdsburg) or the rustic Quarryhill Botanical Gardens (Glen Ellen). The Sunset Gardens and
art-installation gardens at Cornerstone Sonoma are (in light traffic) less than a half-hour’s drive
from Central Marin. Learn about Biodynamic farming while taking in the gardens of Benziger
(Glen Ellen) or Quivira (Healdsburg). For a more dynamic introduction to Biodynamics, visit
Deloach’s outdoor Theater of Nature (Santa Rosa) or the demo farm’s original Napa Valley
iteration at sister property Raymond (St. Helena). Beringer, also in St. Helena, has grand
landscaping, as does Calistoga’s Chateau Montelena.
3. Celebrate Wine Country Resilience
From earthquakes and fires to Prohibition and two bouts of phylloxera (a vine-destroying pest),
Napa and Sonoma have endured numerous catastrophes since Buena Vista Winery (Sonoma)
ushered in modern California winemaking in 1857. Buena Vista and the Napa Valley’s Charles
Krug (1861), Beringer (1876), and Inglenook (1879) have survived them all. Celebrate the Wine
Country’s history of resilience at one of these 19th-century establishments or later arrivals such
as Seghesio (1902), Louis M. Martini (1933), and Trefethen Family Vineyards (1968).
Trefethen’s three-story wood-framed tasting space, erected in 1886 as the Eshcol winery and a
major casualty of Napa’s 2014 earthquake, took nearly three years to restore.
4. Patronize Resaurants Whose Teams Pitched In
A New York Times restaurant critic recently waxed blasé about the Wine Country’s haute-
dining scene, but as in 2017 the reviews from first responders and displaced residents fed
gourmet disaster meals by celebrity and other chefs were nothing short of ecstatic last month.
Patronize the restaurants whose teams pitched in, among them Catelli’s, Franchetti’s Wood
https://www.marinmagazine.com/7-things-to-do-in-wine-country-once-the-fires-are-out/[1/6/2020 1:21:07 PM]7 Things to Do in Wine Country Once the Fires Are Out - Marin Magazine
Fire Kitchen (Santa Rosa), SingleThread Farms and Valette (Healdsburg), and Acacia House
(St. Helena).
5. Support Local Artiss and Artisans
With hundreds of artworks and products by North Bay artists and craftspeople, Made Local
Marketplace (Santa Rosa) is a one-stop shop for supporting area creative types. The two
owners of JaMJAr (Healdsburg and Guerneville) create some of the paintings, jewelry, and
other items sold in their shops, which also carry vintage furniture and bric-a-brac. Some of the
household items and soaps and lotions sold at Maker’s Market and Feast it Forward, both in
downtown Napa, are produced in the Wine Country.
6. Check Out New Tasing Rooms
Several articles of late have pronounced the tasting room dead because millennials want to
interact with brands differently than did generations past, but that hasn’t put a damper on
construction: October alone saw spanking new spaces debut at Anaba (Sonoma), Bouchaine
(Napa), and Cakebread (Rutherford). Check out one or more of these or another relative
newbie, Flowers (Healdsburg), whose House of Flowers opened this summer.
7. Sleep Tight Near the Vines
Wine education is the emphasis at ZO Wines of Dry Creek Valley, where guests spending the
night at the winery’s renovated 1912 Craftsman farmhouse sleep tight near Zinfandel vines. All
farm stays include a tasting (ZO is known for Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah) and
a wine-sensory workshop. The next day you can explore the Dry Creek appellation. Kokomo,
Passalacqua, and Zichichi are three fun stops.
Daniel Mangin is the author of Fodor’s Napa and Sonoma and the
coauthor of The California Directory of Fine Wineries.
CATEGORIES: FOODIE DESTINATIONS, WINE COUNTRY
Tags: Kincade Fire
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